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Lux
Build Guide by Gott der 7 Meere

This build has been archived and is for historical display only.

PLEASE NOTE: This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.

About this Build

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With an amazing shield, two excellent scouting abilities and a long, two-target snare, Lux has everything that a support desperately needs to protect his team. Also, her abilities, especially her passive, allow her to deal some decent damage even with low AP. Obviously, her ultimate has a huge range but that holds true for all of her skills, even though they become increasingly hard to hit over greater distances.

BEWARE - Since Lux is purely skillshot based, she is not an easy support to play! - BEWARE

This guide takes advantage of her good skills and aims to increase their availability with an early game package of Mana Regeneration and Cooldown Reduction. Her inherent squishyness is attenuated with a strong shield and some tanky support items, and her late game will be improved with some Ability Power items. Of course I keep her build as cheap and cost-effective as it suits a support.

I won't repeat myself on things that others have already achieved, therefore don't hesitate to follow the links for more in-depth information like pictures, videos and specialized guides...

Lux has ...

... very long ranged skills.

... a very versatile and powerfull ultimate.

... a great amount of CC and damage.

... more power to sway games than other supports.

Lux needs ...

... practice to hit her longranged spells.

... a huge amount of Mana.

... CDR, else her Cooldowns are huge.

... good positioning in fights.

Newsflash

SEASON 3 (There will still be much balancing)

AP supports like Lux have recieved many new item and mastery choices and are now pretty well equiped.

Huge overhaul in ward-economy and support income. The Sightstone is effectively another gold item and a very good one at that (~8 g/10).

Without Heart of Gold, supports are now very squishy until mid game. That means even melée menaces like Taric and Blitzcrank are now easy to kill - Unless they take 1/28/1 masteries and rush Doran's Shield. Be very cautious when you see enemies doing this, they will be able to withstand a lot more than you can possibly imagine!

All in all I havn't played enough games yet to appreciate the full impact of Season 3.

Base Mana Regen per 5 seconds increased to 6.6 from 5.6 - Not that notable, but its a step into the right direction and a small buff for this build.

Light Binding Mana cost reduced to 50/60/70/80/90 from 60/75/90/105/120 this is an awesome buff especially for our regereration and spamm based playstyle that allows us to use our snare more consistently. Really great.

Finales Funkeln Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 100/150/200. Cast range now displays on the mini-map - Again, less 100 Mana are a huge help, especially when you operate on a low mana pool to utilize the maximum regeneration from the Chalice. The display on the mini-map is very good and longe overdue, too.

Athene's Unholy Grail Ability Power increased to 90 from 80. Magic Resist increased to 40 from 36. These two buffs make the grail even more desireable, so I suggest you skip MReg runes and just get this item more regularly.

Abilities and Skillorder

- improved by: MPen, CDR (on your skills).Illumination (Damage): This is your primary source of damage. Throw a Shield and get in range to attack after you hit something. You can take your time, as it lasts quite long. Whenever you use your ultimate, make sure that you apply this in advance. However, never trigger it at the cost of your live.

> > > - CDR, MPen, AP, levelLight Binding (Initiator, CC, Damage, Escape): This double stun that pretty much guarantees a kill if you catch someone. The CD decreases a lot with each rank. This also makes your very hard to chase. Like all of Lux's abilities, your Q range is huge. Its a perfect ganking, escaping and chasing tool. Remember to save your precious CC for the right targets.

> > > - CDR, level, AP, MR, ArmorPrismatic Barier (Shield, Escape): This is your best support skill. It may not look high in numbers, but it is nevertheless one of the best shields in game. Because it ...

... shields twice if you can aim it.

... shields almost your entire team in teamfights.

... lasts 3 seconds - two times and only has a 6 second CD with max CDR. Meaning you will be constantly shielding.

This will infuriate the enemy incredibly and even though your shield may not be much, it looks as though your entire team survives because of it. If the enemy starts to focus you, despite your obvious lack of AP, you know that you have done it right.

> > > - CDR, AP, level, MPenLucent Singularity (Zoneing, CC, Reveal, Damage): Even with only one level, this is a really great tool for ...

... scouting bushes and over walls. This is incredibly usefull for a support.

... slowing enemies to hit your q better.

... zoning - the reasons and workings of zoneing should be known to everyone, especially to you as a support.

... AOE Illumination application, especially over a long distance when you want to lazor somene.

Overall the most usefull of her skills, it doesn't need levels though, as you get the short CD, most of the slow, and the zoning/scouting potential with only one rank. Especially in late game fights, this skill is valuable because of it can really destroy enemy ambushes and initiations (it should never be off CD, you can constantly use it). I think the active slow and reveal are as valuable as the damage in late game clashes, so don't detonate it unless you need the Illumination-tag for your ultimate.

> > > - CDR, AP, level, MPenFinales Funkeln (Damage, Reveal, Finisher, Stealer): This allows you to controll half the map and show an incredible presence. Even without AP it has a high base and additional Illumination damage - usable every 24 seconds. You fire it off to ...

... scout over long distances; 24 sec CD means its 3 times shorter than Clairvoyance.

... finishing someone with low HP after he escaped.

... stealing enemy jungle creeps, buffs, dragon and baron

... farming/pushing lanes.

Early game usage is crucial. Your first 3 ultimates have to make an impact on the enemy, either by gathering kills on bot lane or jungle, or by stealing an enemy blue or dragon. If the enemy is affraid of your lasor even thoug you are just a support, you can start to be more careless with it. Late game, you when you have it trice a minute, you may be able to use it pre-fight, in fight and after resulting in quite a high damage output.

First of all Lucent Singularity is very good spell. I love it. But when you decide on leveling Q or E after your shield, the lowered CD on your snare is much more valuable.

Q - So many times when this has saved our lifes just because I had it a little quicker. And when you hit, the increased damage ensures a kill.

E - Great Zoning and scouting tool, but since the CD doesn't increase and you will mostly keep it active without enemies touching it, leveling only drains your mana. Using this to poking can easily push your lane if you level it (Of course you may take her E first... this is just my way of playing her).

With Light Binding snares every 6 seconds, Prismatic Barrier shields always on you, Lucent Singularity slows and reveals all around you, and your Ult to trigger Illumination, damage and reveal again... No one should be able to close the gap and kill you, while your remain a huge asset to your team; the longer fights last, the more your team will capitalize.

Summoner Spells

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In the current meta, Exhaust for deciding clashes in lane phase and Flash for squishy support champions without gap-closers or escapes are the optimal choices. See it as an arms race in wich the side that doesn't take both, will be more likely to loose. Even tough other spells might show some benefits, these two are vital for winning bot lane. Exhaust should mostly be used on the enemy AD carry or Jungler to prevent most of their damage and allow for some breathing space. Flash lets you avoid dangerous skillshots, ganks and helps a lot with positioning in mid and late game team fights. This is your only way to escape if someone gets to you and the difference between life and death.

I would like to point out that Clairvoyance is still the greatest support spell in general - if your teammates can handle the absence of exhaust. It provides you with the short term map awareness for devastating counterjungleing, counterganking and important objectives. Together with wards and your awesome scouting abilities you will know everything.
The fundamental difference seems to be that while CV allows to determine if situations are in your favor it assumes your teammates can decide that and act on it. Contrary to Exhaust, that allows you to judge a clashes outcome and change the odds for your team's best outcome.The fact that Exhaust helps a support to be more active, and turn around mistakes - wich will always happen - is the main reason I prefer it over CV. Luckily, Lux has enough scouting abilities with Lucent Singularity and Final Spark to have some replacement up her sleve. Most importantly, let's not forget the fact that your teammates will flame you if you take anything else than Exhaust/ Flash. Aggravated teammates make mistakes and loose - you don't want that.

Clarity and Heal are also nice support spells in theory, but they are wasted when carefull Mana and Health management allows you to replace them and also because Ignite really counters the already small heal amount (Though they work reasonably well in ARAM).

Other summoner spells are champion specific and more or less unsuited for Lux (, , ) or underpowered ().

Champion Statistics

In this section, I will talk about the most important stats for Lux, how much you need of them, and where you can get it effectively. In my oppinion, there is no one item or mastery that is set in stone, you should adapt to your team and enemy anyway. Stats not listed here are truly ineffective on Lux or go against the logic of this build (APen, AD, Crit).

Gold is your primary concern as support and gold items are the way to go for warding and making mid/late game itimization less assist-dependant. One is good, two are perfect, three may take up too many item slots. Get them asap. Gold runes and masteries are really huge if you can make it through laneing phase without survivability or Mana issues.

Mana Regeneration is your next stop. You aim for 40% CDR and your skills are quite expensive in terms of Mana. Chalice of Harmony is my personal favourite and will solve all your mana problems for good. However, as you sometimes won't need the MR that early in the game and your team might need Shurelya's Reverie, you can skip or delay the Chalice for this wonderful item. Howeve, once your Q and E are maxed, you will have problems with sustained fiering if you skip the double-your-MReg-passive..

All in all CDR is the ceapest way to increase your damage and utility.

Ability Power (AP): - - - +200 AP

- situational: Kage's Lucky Pick Shard of True Ice optional:

With sufficient MReg and CDR, Ability Power is your next stat. Allthough the main though is to improve your shield to gives your team more Hitpoints for AP, your other skills have great ratios. Try to get items like Twin Shadows, Shard of True Ice or Will of the Ancients if your team members profit from it.

Utility / Team Support: - - - Your team comes first!

- situational: Zeke's Herald Shurelya's Reverie Shard of True Ice

You don't need to mindlessly buy aura items every game, but decide what your team needs most and focus on it (Try not to get aura items twice in your team).

Zeke's Herald - dramatically increases survivability of AD based champions and when you need CDR.

/ - especially when you notice no one is buying resistances. Usually its better if your tank is getting this, but every team should have one!

and Shard of true ice - nice support items for more mobility and kiteing.

- allthough not removing suppressions, nevertheless worth its gold because you can now heal and save somebody pinned down.

Choosing the right support item can decide your game.

Hit Points (HP): - - - ~500 bonus HP

- vital:situational: Zeke's Herald

Health, because you can't stay out of trouble as support- Lux; you may find yourself in the heat of battle, trying to shield the allies taking damage. You may not need a Warmog's Armor but get at least one HP item early, you are very squishy - and you shouldn't always count on your shield to save yourself.

Armor is crucial as you will face mostly physical damage early and late game. The problem is that other than Zhonya's Hourglass there are no Armor items with AP. You compromise by getting Armor runes and some of the "weak" Armor items like Aegis and Locket and you only take strong armor items like Randuin's Omen or Frozen Heart when the enemy depends (almost) entirely on physical damage.

Movement Speed (MS): - - - ~400 MS

- vital:situational: Shurelya's Reverie

Movement Speed is the key element for your early game survival. Once you get some CDR your Q should allow you to escape anyone. Get quick boots, and be aware that early game, anyone will catch you if you are off guard, having a Shurelya's Reverie helps, too. A wasted Light Binding can be your death.

Runes and Masteries

ArmorArmorMR/lvlGold
These are my most used Support runes and as they work well with almost any support, you might as well use these. The focus on gold works very good in ranked play, allowing you to focus on warding and items regardless of the laneing phase outcome. Pair them with any kind of x/x/21 masteries and you got a solid support setup.
You can either choose to take Greater Seal of Gold, wich I recommend pairing with a 0/9/21 setup, or you can take Greater Seal of Armor and even Greater Mark of Magic Penetration paired with a 9/0/21 mastery setup for a more dominant lane.

MPenMReg/lvlCDR/lvlMReg/lvl
These provide an incredible amount of MReg and CDR working like a constant blue buff. More for normal games, low levels and a lot of fun (Rush , and AP (try Mejai's...).

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ArmorArmorMR/lvlMS/HP
These runes provide the most tankyness you can possibly get as a support and are best paired with a 0/9/21 mastery setup. I take these when I face Alistar- Tristana or Leona- Corki, allthough you can also choose to go full offense and try to outgun them.

Sometimes you want something of the defense mastery to increase your early game durability with Armor () and Health (, ) - or you go for more offense with AP () and Defense Penetration ().

Game Walkthrough

STARTING CHOICES:

Sight Ward

Don't linger on the fountain and start your walking on your road to victory. In the first minutes of the game, your jungler is of absolute prority, do what you can for him to ensure his save start. Cover your jungler and either put a ward in front of the enemy wraith camp to prepare for a jungle invasion, prevent some ganks and track the enemy jungler, or if your jungler is affraid of invasion, ward your red/blue or its entrances. I am serious, this one ward will do a lot and is always worth it. Please don't use your junk ward for this important task of long-term-jungler-detection. If you are close to your lane, you can pull/help him with his first camps, but get to your lane in time for the first dieing minion, don't miss that valuable xp. You might give your AD carry an advantage over the enemy by taking wolves/golem/enemy red if you feel confident.

Sight WardThese will prepare and prevent jungle invasion and make good decision in ganks and can avoid zoneing from bush-hugging enemies. When stealthers or early game gankers are involved, get a Vision Ward.

This powerfull 2 second snare allows for hard level 1 poking or even kills and helps with jungle invsion. Both Prismatic Barrier with its huge 160 HP shield to help your jungler and Lucent Singularity to scout and zone bushes can be of use, too.

Keep in mind that you should never die in early game, the xp and gold are needed to keep up with your enemy, so ward if you expect a gank ( Alistar, Nocturne, Dr. Mundo and more might gank at lvl two). Try to keep track of the enemy jungler, ping if you see him or after you think he finished some camps. Also keep scouting and warding the lane bushes vs enemies like Blitzcrank, Leona, Taric they are just waiting for the right moment, so don't ever let your guard down.

EARLY GAME - GOLD ITEMS:

Philosopher's Stone Kage's Lucky Pick

You should go back when you have gold for a Philosopher's Stone and some wards and if your carry can handle it. Never leave him alone, and always tell him if you leave the lane. He depends on you, and you don't want to hear that he was killed fullfilling his duty, while you are comfortably at the shop or warding.

Your duty to your AD-carry is helping him last hit undisturbed. Shield and scout if he gets in danger for cs, distract enemies when he needs it, poke with your spells and auto attacks, and never ever steal last hits or kills from him.

Now you always have enough wards to cover two important spots, e.g. dragon and blue buff. Keeping two wards up drains ~8g/10sec. Meaning this item is the most efficient in terms of gold-generation If you can afford it at your first back trip, do it.

Clear enemy wards at dragon. This is to be prefered to an early because you just die to quickly before you get your core build.

Philosopher's Stone A wonderfull item for both health and mana sustain and a better income.

Get them early or you will involuntarily feed the enemy a lot of kills. Prioritize Boots when a game is going bad.

This should always hit your carry twice when he needs it, you need good aim and timing for this. But if you can throw it well, its the hugest shield there is (except Morgana and Kayle, I know...).

Even though you don't want to leave your lane alone long, it is vital that you don't just ward in its vicinity, but put your wards close to the enemy jungle entrances and dragon, as these wards are far better in detecting enemy junglers way before they are close. Note that after level 6, the mid champion is bound to gank lanes so you should alert mid or jungler to ward and call mia's.

MID GAME - CORE BUILD:

Don't dream about huge items and complete builds; Chalice of Harmony and Ionian Boots of Lucidityafter some gold items are all you can and will afford for yourself. Put anything else into warding and clearing wards, this really decides mid game! Don't facecheck, don't get cought alone. Your AD carry is still your priority!

This is my personal favourite to solve my mana issues on Lux. If you don't need it and runes or Shurelyas are enough, there is no reason to get this, its just my way (mostly).

Sometimes your team really needs an item to win the next decisive teamfight over baron. You bought gold items them to have money for wards, now you can sell them without hesitation. You should get that one aura item sooner if you have money or if your team is loosing hard (skip Chalice of Harmony and get some Mana Potions instead).

End game is all about baron, and it is best to stay together whenever possible. Sadly, you cannot initiate, tank or carry, don't be foolish to try any of these. You can help your team coordinate in the chat and you can steal baron with your lasor, but don't get angry if your team plays bad, there is just nothing else you can do, you play a support.

Shurelya's Reverie If no one else builds this, or has a speedup like Righteous Gust or Command: Dissonance you should get it as an engage/gtfo tool that increases positioning and therefore the outcome of many clashes. Not to mention the nice HReg/MReg increase and the fact that it builds out of your Philosopher's Stone.

Zeke's Herald Livesteal is probably the best contribution to your AD carry and bruisers in late game ( Lee Sin, Nocturne ...). Pay attention to the CDR cap of 40% if you get this.

Especially usefull against AOE damage and burst, has huge synergy with the Locket and your shield. This a nice item to get early, but mostly you just won't be able to afford it sooner. If no one has bought this until now, you will.

Perfect support item for Lux. Huge sustain, aura and AP. AP-DPS champions like Cassiopeia, Ryze, Orianna will gain a huge, game-decisive advantage from one or even two of these.

When enemies try to lockdown a target with e.g. Terrify you can save them.

Only if you need mobility and enemies tend to fight in jungle areas.

Shard of True Ice The usual upgrade for Kages, remember you can use it on creeps and pets.

The perfect upgrade for Chalice of Harmony. Too expensive to get on a regular basis, but sometimes...

Until now, enemies will probably laugh at your pitifull laser. In case your team has the aura items it needs most and your AP-carries damage is lacking, you can choose to aim for some AP of your own. + + is your optiamal core that allows you to deal damage and shield better.

IF YOUR TEAM FALLS BEHIND.

Get tire 2 boots and focus on gold items. Don't ward too much, but ward important objectives (baron, dragon, buffs). Urge your teammates to focus on smaller things like save farming and avoiding death. Stick to the person that is most likely to carry.

IF YOUR TEAM IS AHEAD.

Protect your main carry with every possible action. Buy many wards and oracle. Get a Lich Bane if you can't loose.

I hope by now you realize that a clever build needs to be flexible. Every game has its own requirements and obviously teamplay is better than any build. Don't dismiss items just because you have never seen them on Lux, you might just never have witnessed the situation where they come in handy.

Adapting to your AD Carry

After some considerations I added this important section to optimize the synergy with your lane partner. Take a look at this guide on game strategy.

The following is still your guide line (Gold -> Mana -> MS -> Aura/Active -> CDR -> AP/Resist), but I suggest different items, runes and masteries for each lane (or even each individual champion). Lets have a look at the different bottom lanes:

Kill Lane

The play in this lane is centered about getting kills during lane phase. Without Kills it resembles a Zone Lane. Stacking Doran's Blade and a strong CC jungler can turn any lane into a killing lane. You react by getting early game offense with AP and MReg.

This lane tries to continuously poke opponents while outsustaining them. If gained an advantage it transitions into a Zone/Kill Lane. Beware of enemies building Trinity Force, they can unexpectedly kite and double their poke. Chalice of Harmony lets you enhance their endless bombardment, resulting in ridiculous poke.

Farming with the proper CC, disengage and sustain to prevent enemies from killing and pokeing. People without experience also tend to avoid early agression or may be unskilled in hitting poke and cs at the same time. If you see champions building Doran's Blade+ Wriggle's Lantern they will trade sustain for damage and it will transition into this boring lane makeup. This lane forces you to get gold/10 items to supply wards and items when they are needed.

Any Winning Lane can zone by threatening to kill and denying gold and even xp. Champions with high ranged poke are natural zoners. Beware when enemies return after shopping, as their natural item advantage might result in a (temporary) zone lane possibly including your demise if you don't recall. This matchup is the only lane I would recommend maxing Lucent Singularity asap, due to its high ranged slow (and damage).

Strong Pushers who have time and skills to roam after clearing their lane. Some champions are natural roamers, others excel at roaming after ending their lane early. Junglers like Evelynn, Shaco, Xin Zhao, Alistar can destroy any lane early, forcing roam and rush scenarios on you. Be mindfull to ward a lot. The key to adapting are Boots of Mobility and lots of wards. No big items, but map awareness thoughout the (short) game.

Unveiling the Fog of War

Have you ever heard the sentence "Wards win games!" ? Following it, you started stacking wards and ... you still lost; figuring out that this statement is a little incorrect. Any game will be decided through a series of mistakes/oportunities that will be dealt with successfully or not. Wards provide you with the upper hand by giving/improving your knowledge and thus help you succeed. "Wards enable victories!" - without wards, you are doomed because the odds will be against you in anything your team attempts.

"A truly outstanding support will win games with only basic boots, having spent the rest of his money on wards. He will have prevented every enemy gank, stolen every enemy neutral champ, totally defeated their jungler and goten every single dragon and baron for his team. He will never have died facechecking as opposed to his enemies."

Buying wards. Every player should spent the rest of his money on Sight wards. Supports should always have enough wards in the inventory to cover at least 2 important spots and prioritize them over items. Even though a Sightstone is not mandatory, it is the perfect support item. Have a Vision Ward whenever you can, you need "true vision" for specific areas, to destroy enemy wards, discover stealthers or bait the enemy! Recall when you are OOW.
You can type funny comments into the chat... like this true story, to make your teammates buy wards.

Where to place wards. Placing wards on lane bushes, jungle entrances and bufs, enables your team to gank and steal bufs properly. Still, they are only as good as their placement. Read this summary on warding and learn to place your wards better with every game you play - just buy some wards for "learning" purposes and place them on "new" spots every game.
Warding also includes the wards of your teammates. One isolated ward helps far less than a line of two or 3 wards spread across the map. Tell your Mid/Top/Jungler to ward if they don't, explain to them if they place wards poorly. This helps a lot if done correctly and ganks will become virtually impossible for the enemy.

Destroying wards. Getting an Oracle's Elixir is a high risk-reward action. It has the potential to totally cripple enemy map awareness and prevents the enemy team from ganking and steal buffs effectively. Get it when you have Tire 2 boots at least, because Lux is very squishy and this only increases her global taunt. Generally you should prefer Vision Wards over Oracles. Let someone who is more tanky and comes around more take one (your jungler).

Reacting to enemy Oracles. Everyone has been angry about the enemy getting an Oracle, but you should just continue with your job, never let them prevent you from warding. Rather, place your wards in unexpectd locations and bushes. And bring that enemy Oracle-Bearer down! Remember that he has wasted 400 gold and his advantage is only temporary.

When to place wards. You are supposed to know the spawn and respawn times of major neutrals by heart and type them in the chat so your warding is timed well!

Baron Nashor will spawn at 15:00 and respawn every 7 minutes, his kill will give 300 gold AND 900 xp to each player of the successful team.

Dragon Ebenmaw will spawn at 2:30 and respawn every 6 minutes, his kill will grant 190 gold - but NO xp - to each player of the successful team.

Big Golem and Elder Lizzard (Blue and Red Buf) will spawn at 1:55 and respawn every 5 minutes.

If you achieve ward dominance over these spots, the odds for winning are on your side.

General summary of warding locations:

Early game: River and - if asked - buffs, dragon (dragon always with a ).

Mid game: Mid cross-sections and buffs/dragon when respawn is imminent.

Late game: Defensive or offensive warding of jungle cross-sections and of Baron - but avoid soloing.

Remember that you will only become a good support if you master warding.

Guidelines for decent Gaming

"I underestimated my enemy, I am sorry and it was my mistake, it won't happen again, I promise."
(Appologize for mistakes and inconveniences.)

"Kind Sirs, getting Mercs against that team is a decent thing to do."
(Give constructive and helpfull criticism.)

"[\all] Talk kindly to your fellow gentleman, they played very well indeed."
(Keep up a friendly atmosphere and be a good sportsman.)

Conclusion

I hope you learnt something from this guide, I wrote it to clear my thoughst on Lux and to let others look at my conclusions. Credits go to jhoijhoi for learning about BBCode and to anyone who gave me feedback, thank you very much for your help.
I am happy with this guide as it is. If you have something to add to my line of thoughs, write to me. I greatly appreciate discussion and arguments about builds, I don't want you to adapt my style, I see it as an experiment that yields good results and should be appreciated as such.